Los Catrachos will be expected to depart the World Cup after the group stage. They are not a side that are well renowned in the international game and the 2010 World Cup is only the second time that they have ever qualified for the world’s greatest competition. Naturally, they will harbour hopes of upsetting one of their illustrious group opponents and perhaps shock the world by making the knockout stages.
The Honduras national team are probably most famous for their part in starting a war over a football match. The Football War lasted for about four days between Honduras and El Salvador in 1969 after El Salvador defeated them in a qualifying match for the 1970 World Cup. Of course, the real causes of the war had little to do with football, but the match acted as a catalyst. They did qualify for the 1982 finals and acquitted themselves very well. They drew 1-1 with Spain and Northern Ireland which were both fine results before losing 1-0 to Yugoslavia which eliminated them.
Their qualification began in the second round and they routed Puerto Rico 6-2 on aggregate over two legs. The third round saw them drawn in a tough four team group which contained the fancied Mexican team as well as Jamaica and Canada. Honduras won all three home games with their 1-0 win over Mexico coming as a huge surprise and they topped their group. In the final six team group, they once again had a tremendous home record, winning four of their five games with the only loss being a 3-2 defeat to the United States. They also had the satisfaction of beating El Salvador in both matches they played. They eventually qualified by virtue of goal difference ahead of Costa Rica, thus avoiding a playoff with the dangerous Uruguayan side.
They have a number of players taking part in the Honduran league but their star players have sought out a stiffer challenge in Europe and the United States. Maynor Figueroa of Wigan and Wilson Palacios of Tottenham Hotspur are undoubtedly their star turns but they will also be relying on goals from centre-forward David Suazo who has spent his career in Italy and is currently playing for Genoa. The group stage in South Africa sees them pitted against the might of Spain as well as Switzerland and Chile. The odds are that Honduras will not have enough in their squad to make it out of their group but they will hope to entertain the fans and maybe cause a major upset along the way.